What facets of management should EDs not delegate?

Nonprofit leaders know there aren't enough hours in the day to invest equally — and effectively — in all the issues vying for attention. They have to delegate some of responsibilities as well as, when possible, decision-making authority. But which duties can’t be assigned to anyone else?

According to Jeffrey L. Bradach and Kirk Kramer of the Bridgespan Group, research points to two critical areas that uniquely require the top manager's attention: aligning staff and other stakeholders around a common set of priorities and developing the organization's leaders.

Why goal alignment and leadership development? There are three key reasons. First, these are the areas most often in need of reinforcement. Leadership development and succession is the number one organizational weakness cited by Bridgespan leadership survey respondents, while setting priorities and communicating them, internally and externally, are among the top five.

 Second, it is very difficult to delegate responsibility for these areas effectively. Setting priorities requires the CEO to synthesize multiple valid and important points of view and, ultimately articulate how the organization's vision connects to impact. Getting the organization to agree requires the leader to engage with board members, management team members, other staff, and volunteers. By definition, the top executive is the only one with an overview of the senior management team, and the only one who knows whether team members collectively have the capabilities required to achieve the organization's goals.

Finally, many other management tasks flow from these two areas, including resource allocation, assigning people to priorities, role definition, project initiatives, and process improvements. Ultimately, the success of the organization—its ability to deliver consistent results and increase its impact over time—rests with having thoughtful and well-understood goals and the right senior leadership team making decisions about how the organization can best deliver on those goals. Click here to read the complete article.